Marauding: And How to Succeed
by Up Down Strange Charm
Summary: When James and Sirius meet on the Hogwarts express, it's the start of an interesting friendship, and it only gets more interesting with the addition of Remus and Peter. Follow the Marauders through their years and Hogwarts!
1. The Hogwarts Express

**A/N: Hello, all! This is another new story I'm working on; it's about the Marauders and their first few years at Hogwarts. I'll also be updating this story along with Siriusly Sexist, but I plan to make the chapters on this story much longer, so don't expect updates everyday! :P**

**Enjoy! **

**DISCLAIMER: Well, what are disclaimers used for, hm?**

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><p>Thick, white clouds of steam billowing out from the Hogwarts Express lazily drifted over Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, which was tumultuous with activity. James Potter, a meekly, scrawny boy of age 11 with messy, raven-black hair and a soon-to-be famous smirk, stepped out of the brick wall that separated the platform from the Muggle world.<p>

Soon afterward, James's parents also walked through the wall. They pushed James's trolley forward, and walked up to their son. James breathed deeply, not even bothering to turn and look at his parents. He eyes were glued excitedly at the Hogwarts Express, every second or so glancing at his golden watch that his father had given to him.

"It's almost time to board!" James said excitedly. He pulled his wand out from his back pocket and twirled it in happiness. Red sparks occasionally shot out of the tip. James' mother snatched the wand out of James's hand.

"James! That's dangerous!" she scolded, though James could see the doting twinkle in her eyes. James grinned back at her.

"C'mon, mum, when have I ever cared about that?" he responded cheekily. James's dad smiled back at his son, who leaped up and snatched his wand out of his mother's hand.

"When you get to Hogwarts that kind of attitude will land you in detention more times than your grandfather has fallen asleep on our couch," Charlus Potter said.

"But that's the point, isn't it?" James said back. His dad laughed.

"James! Don't say things like that," Dorea Potter said, though James could see her fighting the urge to laugh as well.

Just then, the whistle of the Hogwarts Express shrilled loudly. James quickly hefted his trunk out of the trolley.

"That's the whistle! Time to board!" James happily remarked. His mother pulled him into a tight bear-hug.

"Oh, Jamesie-poo, it's time for you to leave for Hogwarts!" she cried. James tried in vain to wriggle out of her grip.

"Muuuum! You're embarrassing me," James complained, fighting down a blush. A couple other kids around sniggered at him.

Finally, his mother let go of him, wiping away a stray tear in the process. James instantly leaped away from her, in case she decided she didn't get enough huggy time.

"Now James, don't forget to write every day!" Dorea Potter said to her son. James rolled his eyes.

"Yes, mummy," he said sarcastically, though he was secretly happy that she cared about him so much.

"And don't get into any trouble. Change your underwear each day. Don't give the teachers a hard time. Don't forget to wash behind your ears! Also, don't-"

"MUM! I get it!" James yelled in exasperation. Dorea Potter smiled while Charlus grinned.

"Oh, alright, dear. Just be happy at school, and we'll be happy," James's mother said. James smiled back at her.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, turning to leave. He waved bye to his parents (of whom Dorea was sobbing hysterically into a handkerchief) and then walked to the train, lugging his trunk behind him. James hefted his luggage up the stairs and walked down the aisle to find an empty compartment. He decided to settle for a compartment near the end of the train. James opened the glass door and lifted his trunk up to a rack, before sitting down.

He looked out through the window of his compartment. He could see the white steam unfurling from the top of the train and drifting sluggishly into the horizon. With nothing else to do, James scanned the bustling crowd of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters for his parents. He was still looking when he heard the door of his compartment slid open.

James turned around to see a boy with shoulder-length, black hair step into the compartment. The boy was fairly good-looking, with his bangs cascading over his face in a casual elegance that James could only dream of achieving with his incredibly messy hair.

"Is this seat taken? No? Guess I'll crash here then," the boy said with a grin, not even giving James time to respond. He then put his luggage on the rack and sat down across from James, who was looking at him.

James felt a slight flicker of annoyance. Why was this boy coming in without asking? But James brushed the feeling aside. He didn't want any enemies so early in the year.

"Hey, what's your name? Mine's James. James Potter," James said, extending his hand out. The boy had something momentarily flicker across his face. Was it irritation? James couldn't tell. The boy hesitantly shook James's hand.

"Name's Sirius. Sirius . . . Black," the boy said cautiously, as if he was ashamed of his name. He whispered "Black" so quietly that James had barely heard him. "Hey, just out of curiosity, but are you a pureblood?"

James nodded. "Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?"

Sirius grimaced, before attempting a grin. Even with his attempts, it still ended up looking forced onto his face.

"Because I, being from the ancient and noble House of Black, wouldn't want to be friends with 'scum', now would I?" Sirius said mockingly, putting air quotes around the word "scum". He had a look of deep disgust on his face and then frowned. "At least, that's what my family thinks."

"To be honest mate, it doesn't really sound like you fancy your family a lot," James remarked. Sirius smirked at him.

"You guessed right. My family is chock full of pureblood maniacs," Sirius stuck out his tongue. "Bunch of demented buggers, the lot." James laughed. He was beginning to like this kid.

He and Sirius then struck up a heated conversation about Quidditch. They were engaged in a heated argument about whether the Appleby Arrows were going to defeat the Wimbourne Wasps at the World Cup this year when the compartment door opened, and a red-haired girl stepped in. She quietly stepped by James and Sirius, and sat alone at the end of the compartment beside the window, leaning against it with her face behind her veil of crimson hair. James could hear faint, sniffling sounds coming from behind her scarlet curtain of hair and he turned toward her to see what was wrong when her hair shifted slightly, revealing her face. The girl's eyes were red from crying, and light tear tracks were strewn all across her cheeks that were flushed pink against her ivory skin.

Despite that, James thought he had never seen anyone more beautiful.

He was still staring at her when the compartment door opened a second time and a black-haired boy with a long, hooked nose stepped in. He swept past James and Sirius and sat across from the girl. When he sat down, James could see the girl glance at him and smile slightly. James felt a flicker of jealousy and irritation at the black-haired boy.

". . . so as I was saying, the Apples got absolutely no chance against the Wasps this year. I mean, with Bagman as the Human Bludger himself and Edward as Seeker, the Wasps are practically unbeatable. Hey, James…? Are you even listening?" Sirius waved a hand in front of James's face, before following his eyes to the red-haired girl sitting by the window. Sirius smirked.

"Like what you see, Jamsie-boy?" Sirius mocked. James turned back to the boy and cuffed him playfully on the ear.

"Shut up! I'm just looking," James replied.

"Right. 'Just looking', you say. Looking at what, I wonder?" Sirius said, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. James pushed Sirius, though he laughed all the same.

He and Sirius then continued their conversation. James didn't look over to the red-headed girl by the window after that, afraid that Sirius would tease him again. But he did occasionally get a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye.

While he and Sirius were then discussing the difference between a tangerine and an orange (Sirius insisted they were the same thing, just that one was fatter than the other and that people were prejudiced), they both overheard a specific word (or rather the whole sentence) from the boy with the greasy black hair.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," he said, smiling. James turned his head around, and scoffed.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius, smiling. But Sirius didn't return that smile.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he said softly.

"Blimey," James said. Even after hearing that, he still grinned. "And I thought you seemed alright!"

Sirius grinned back.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

James mimed wielding a sword. He felt a familiar jolt of excitement as he envisioned telling his parents he had gotten in Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad."

The greasy haired boy by the window made a small noise in his throat. James turned to him. He liked this kid less and less.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," responded Snape, though his sneer gave it away. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy –"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. He reached over and high-fived Sirius, who grinned back at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red-headed girl get up, slightly flushed but still not failing to look annoyed and angry.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," she said, glaring at James and Sirius.

"Ooooooooo . . ." James and Sirius chorused together.

James and Sirius mimicked her lofty voice. When Snape passed by, James tried to trip him.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius yelled at Snape's back. James saw it stiffen, before the compartment door closed.

James and Sirius sat there, revering in that moment of victory, before both succumbing to fits of laughter.

"S-snivellus!" James choked out, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was brilliant!"

Sirius grinned cheekily at James, and mimed Snape's sulky demeanor. He hunched his back and scrunched up his nose. It made Sirius look rather like a grumpy elephant.

James erupted into laughter again. He and Sirius were going to be good friends. James could already tell.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	2. The Plan

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the second chapter in the story. I'm kinda sad though cause I got NO REVIEW for this story and only one for my other one. . . . D:**

**So if you read this, please review, it really makes my day! ^.^**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I'm totally J.K. Rowling. Emphasis on the "J.K" part.**

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><p>The Hogwarts Express eventually rolled to a stop. James Potter quickly sat up and nudged his new friend, Sirius, awake. Sirius groggily sat up from the window pane he was leaning on. A smidge of drool ran lazily down his chin. James, noticing that, sniggered.<p>

"Whuzzat?" Sirius slurred, rubbing his eyes. James cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

"You drool when you sleep?"

"You would too if you had that window as a sorry excuse for a nice, fluffy pillow." Sirius yawned, stretching, causing his long, dark locks to casually cascade over his fair face. A pair of girls who were walking outside of James' and Sirius' compartment ogled at Sirius, though he didn't seem to notice.

"So why did you wake me up? I need my beauty sleep to look this sexy, ya know," Sirius winked at James.

"Funny, I didn't know being the blackest of the Black counts as sexy," James grinned at his new friend. Sirius froze for a second, before barking out a laugh.

"Touché, Jamsie-poo. Touché," he grinned. James smiled. He had been momentarily worried that he had hit a sensitive spot; James had only recently learned that Sirius did not like his family the least.

"Anyway, I woke you up 'cause we've arrived at Hogwarts now," James said, gesturing out the window. Already, streams of new students were pouring out of the Hogwarts express, heading toward a rather large silhouette standing by some boats out in the lake.

"Oh! Jeez, how long was I out?" Sirius gasped, glancing out the window to look for the sun. James checked his golden watch that his father had given him for his tenth birthday.

"Ah. . . about 6. . . Maybe 7 . . . yeah, about 7 hours now," James said, leaning back in his seat and grinning. The pack of girls outside the boys' compartment was steadily growing larger, each vying for their turn to gawk at James and Sirius. Miraculously, none of them noticed their newfound fan club; they were too busy engaged in their own conversation.

"Blimey! I coulda' swore it was only a couple hours," Sirius whistled, running a hand through his hair. Several girls fainted on the spot outside.

"Eh, either way, we'll be late on our first day if we don't get out soon," James said, waving his hand at the compartment door. Sirius glanced at it and noticed the pack (now a bulging crowd) of girls all staring intently at the boys. Sirius grinned.

"Why hello there, my dear maidens? Are you lost?" Sirius suddenly shouted.

"Ergh. . . A warning would be nice next time, mate," James massaged his ears. Sirius shrugged apologetically. He made to walk to the compartment door but before he could, the boys' tittering and giggling fan club quickly dispersed and left. Sirius stopped midstride and raised his eyebrows.

"Hm," he said simply. James shrugged.

"Go figure. You know, I could never figure the specimen of the female species," James said, tapping his chin. "Actually, I don't think anyone can completely understand what goes on up there, apart from other females."

"We could always suck out their brains and then eat them," Sirius suggested. "Then because we are what we eat, we'd have our brains become part girl-brain, so we could have the best of both worlds."

Sirius and James both momentarily looked each other, thinking over what Sirius had just said. They then both broke into fits of hysterical laughter.

"M-my god, Sirius," James choked out. "That has got to be the most IDIOTIC thing you've ever said, EVER."

Sirius grinned and wiped away a stray tear of laughter.

"I'm so proud of myself," he grinned cheekily, causing James to erupt back into laughter. He was having such an intense fit of laughter that he snorted rather loudly. Sirius and James both froze, while the latter covered his mouth with his hands.

The two then fell to the floor, howling with even more laughter. Passerby out of their compartment looked at the pair with strange looks.

After the pair of boys had finally calmed down, they both shakily got to their feet. They reached up on the rack, and lifted their trunks down. James opened the compartment door. The corridor was now nearly empty.

"I'd say we're a tad bit late, wouldn't you, Sirius?" James commented lightly, as if he were merely discussing the weather.

"Oh, yes. Just a smidge," Sirius responded, mimicking James's lofty tone. The two boys grinned at each other, before walking out of the compartment and down toward the door of the train. Suddenly, Sirius halted to a stop. James turned to his friend.

"What is it?" James asked him. Sirius's face slowly broke into a mischievous grin.

"Well, my dearest Jamsie-poo, I've recently been struck by a brainwave. You see, while pondering the predicament we've landed ourselves into, I've struck upon an idea. Why should we, the soon-to-be greatest minds of our generation merely be content with arriving at Hogwarts with the other _normal_ riff-raff? No, my dear James, we should not. We will arrive in Hogwarts in a fashion that suits our awesomeness, our exorbitantness. And I know just the way," Sirius pronounced. James mirrored Sirius's grin.

"Big words there, Black. Amazing you could think of them," James said jokingly. Sirius did a mock bow, laughing. James shook his head fondly.

"Well, then. No time to waste."

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><p><strong>Once again, thank you KrisCheshee for beta'ing! :D<strong>


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